Comments on: Obama: “Healthcare Now,” Goodlatte: “Reset”

By: Bubby Hussein, Hillbilly Sheikh

Bubby Hussein, Hillbilly Sheikh — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:01:32 +0000

The way to certain bankruptcy for America is to continue to spend the +2 trillion / per year on health care in the current manner.

The fact that the federal government alone spends $1 trillion per year on health care would suggest that if Republicans were serious about controlling government costs they would be engaged in reforming health care not obstructing it, or doling out “vouchers’.

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By: seth

seth — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:56:11 +0000

polls like that one and the one that bubby cites are just that (polls). if we’re interested in finding a solution to our health care crisis, we need to get away from allowing the collective opinion of the uninformed to influence the direction of intelligent thought (and i don’t mean to sound elitist there, but when the majority of respondents say things like they favor the enacted reforms but also say that they don’t feel like they’ve made a significant impact on their lives, i have to question the spinning of any numbers as potentially manipulative political histrionics). to me, the elephant in the room is the lack of clarity regarding our goal. if the goal is to extend universal coverage, perhaps the MA type reforms are the way to go. if the goal is to control costs in a meaningful way, maybe not so much.

instead the best our congress (which is newly invigorated by the president’s calls for monolithic bipartisanship) is going to be able to do is maneuver and machinate in such a way as to leave republicans advocating federal funding for abortion and dems as the sponsors of unambiguously pro life ammendments.

so in answer to your questions of whether we’re destined for painful bankruptcy, in a word,
yes.

it should make for some entertaining polls though.

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By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:16:20 +0000

Sorry, I messed up the link to the article: http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/01/massachusetts-liked-universal-health.html

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By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:15:40 +0000

mtnsailor, here is an article with analysis of a Mass. poll carried out following the Brown/Coakley election by the Washington Post and Harvard.

Here is an interesting tidbit:

By a 68-27 margin, voters in last Tuesday’s election supported the universal health care law in Massacuhsetts; this included a majority of Scott Brown voters! But these same voters opposed the Democratic health care plan, which is quite similar to the Massacuhsetts law, by a 43-48 margin.

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By: seth

seth — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:59:16 +0000

http://www.pnhp.org/mass_report/mass_report_Final.pdf

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By: mtnsailor

mtnsailor — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:54:25 +0000

*PLEASE, someone- give/link an OBJECTIVE summary on Mass. plan!
“People in Massachusetts continue to support their mandatory universal health care system 2:1. The priority was to assure health care for everyone and they are at 97% covered. They now have the numbers to bargain with and drive down costs.”
From previous– I’ve heard Mass. plan is too costly; but, what’s doing OK? what’s not? and, what’s are the steps to resolve issues?

Overall, how should USA *manage its 11+%/year increases in health care costs? Or, is our destiny painful bankruptcy?

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By: Bubby Hussein, Hillbilly Sheikh

Bubby Hussein, Hillbilly Sheikh — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:55:58 +0000

This why Bob Goodlatte is referred to as Wind-Sock Bob. He is nice guy, and I like him, but Bob doesn’t have a spine. I wouldn’t share a fighting hole with him.

People in Massachusetts continue to support their mandatory universal health care system 2:1. The priority was to assure health care for everyone and they are at 97% covered. They now have the numbers to bargain with and drive down costs.

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By: seth

seth — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:32:20 +0000

“Goodlatte and his Republican buddies are wholly in the pocket of the insurance industry.”

see, this is funny to me. not sure if you read the two previous comments, but the fact that goodlatte voted to allowed the evil insurance industry to be held accountable for ‘injuries or deaths resulting from the denial of covered benefits’ doesn’t seem to line up with your perception. i would say that the ones who appear more evidently in the pocket of the insurance industry are those who continue to advocate things like mandates in the face of increasingly convincing evidence that suggests such a strategy has not done much to decrease premiums or control other costs in the state of massachusetts.

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By: Bubby Hussein, Hillbilly Sheikh

Bubby Hussein, Hillbilly Sheikh — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:18:59 +0000

The Heritage Foundation “plan” does nothing to bend downward the cost of health care…unless you consider the rationed healthcare “vouchers” to be an ethical address to the cost problem. Goodlatte and his Republican buddies are wholly in the pocket of the insurance industry.

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